Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Two articles from Jeff Thomas

He states that the UMass starters will be David Burris and Michael Hansen at DE. Brandon Collier and Kyle Harrington will be the starting defensive tackles. Brown has repeatedly praised Collier and said that Collier will be an impact player in the CAA. Harrington has gone from a scout team player to a starter on the DL, so he must have really improved.

This Blog believes this will be a strong group for UMass. Brown likes to play attacking defense and this year we will have enough players to keep the intensity up. I look for seven or eight defensive linemen to play a significant number of minutes.

11 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I have expressed my concern about our DL before. I expected Coach Brown to sign some big bodies and get a few transfers. After reading the article by Jeff Thomas I am even more concerned about our ability to stop the run than I was before. Are you?

Appalachian State tops UMass to repeat Division I-AA title12/18/06CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Kevin Richardson led Appalachian State to its second straight Division I-AA national championship, running for 179 yards and four touchdowns in the Mountaineers' 28-17 victory over Massachusetts on Friday night.

The D-Line is the first position Depth chart I have seen confirmed. With camp officially ending tomorrow can anyone report on the final o-line spot and the defensive secondary? I am assuming that it was a very competitive camp but Brown has not said anything regarding the DB's. Hopefully the athletic department will update the December 2006 depth chart on the website but if anyone can shed some light that would be great.

I agree. Speed and quickness are essential in 1AA. With the schemes that UMass integrates, the (defensive) interior line should more than hold its own. Gaining experience, it seems, at least at this very early part of the season, may determine how the line performs come playoff time.

At the link, UMass 1863 Football page, there is a current ('07) depth chart indicated, although how official this is one can only surmise. If you check it out, I'm interested to know any and all comments.

My (UMass 1863) depth chart isn't official. I hope to update it with the results from camp ASAP and keep it updated weekly.

As we / Coach Brown, use different sets based on down, distance, yard line, score, and unannounced injuries, etc. it is more of a guide.

All updates and suggestions gratefully appreciated. :)

UMass74With more depth, our line should be even better. Our starting four should be very, very good.

I am hoping with more depth and speed we will be able to overcome any power running.

UMass74 also mentioned that backup DL Matt Stolte will be moving to the OL which will further weaker or DL. He only weighs 268 lbs which makes him one of our bigger DL but is light for our OL. What about all of the freshmen we brought in? Are they all going to redshirt

I'm guessing that many younger O-lineman played both ways in prep. Why not take some of these recruits, given their size, strength, intelligence, and potential for development, and DEVELOP them as defensive lineman? Most of these kids are closer to the weight (and presumably) have the capacity and talent to focus on defense. I rarely have observed young players at UMass (or many other schools (possibly Northeastern is an exception with some of their redshirt freshman from last year) groomed for defense. Any ideas?

You are right that most of them played both ways in high school but at this level you very seldomly see a Tagged O-Lineman move to the Defensive side due to his footwork. Even if you trimmed down some of these big boys they cannot typically move like you need them to in Browns attacking Defensive style.

The Defensive Back depth may have taken it's toll on Chris Pollard. He is no longer listed on the roster. He was an NJCAA Pre-Season All American and appeared to have a good spring camp. If he left due to playing time, we must be looking good in the secondary.

Just a quick notice, it seems as if Josh Samuda, Justin Sawicki, and Brian Ostaszewski will all redshirt, as of now of 8/28/07 Tim Nolan is on the two deep because lack of depth at the O-line, The senior Stotle was moved due to at one point during camp the O-line was down to 8, thats right 8 o-linemen. The O-line should be very good this year with Captain Matt Austin leading the way.

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